The character arc of Brian Banks
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 24 July 1985 in Long Beach, California, a standout linebacker at Long Beach Polytechnic High School and named one of the juniors to watch in his class. Between then and now sit a verbal commitment to USC in 2002, a false accusation of rape that summer, expulsion, a plea bargain taken at sixteen in ten minutes without being allowed to speak to his mother, close to six years in prison and five on parole, a registration he should never have had, a recorded confession in March 2011, a reversal on 24 May 2012, and a professional contract eleven years after his last high school game. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Brian Banks?
Ten minutes to decide. Eleven years to get it back.
He was one of the best schoolboy linebackers in California, at Long Beach Poly, in a team that also held DeSean Jackson, Darnell Bing, Winston Justice and Marcedes Lewis. Rivals named him one of the juniors to watch in the class of 2003. In 2002 he verbally committed to USC, whose head coach had offered him a scholarship.
That summer, aged sixteen, he was arrested after a classmate falsely accused him of rape. He was expelled before any outcome, and a co-principal said he would not be allowed back on campus whatever happened in court. Facing forty one years to life, he was offered a plea. His lawyer told him he stood almost no chance at trial because a jury would see a big black teenager. He had ten minutes to decide and was denied the right to talk it over with his mother. He understood from his lawyer that a no contest plea meant probation. It meant six years in prison, five years of probation, and registering as a sex offender.
He served close to six years and then five on parole. His accuser and her mother sued the school district, claiming the campus was unsafe, and won a settlement of 1.5 million dollars.
In March 2011 she contacted him on Facebook. They met, and in front of a private investigator he had hired she admitted she had fabricated the whole thing. He recorded it. It was not admissible, because she had not known she was being recorded and there was no signed statement, and she later refused to tell prosecutors the same thing, because she would have had to give the money back. He had already asked the California Innocence Project for help and been turned down for lack of evidence. Now they took it, as their first case for somebody already out of prison, and assembled enough for the district attorney to ask a judge to reverse the conviction. On 24 May 2012 it was reversed and the registration removed.
Then he went and did the thing he had been stopped from doing at sixteen. He tried out for the Chiefs, the Chargers and the 49ers, attended the Seahawks minicamp, and signed for the Las Vegas Locomotives in September 2012, playing his first meaningful football in more than eleven years and making one tackle before the league suspended its season. On 3 April 2013 he signed for the Atlanta Falcons, played four preseason games and picked up two tackles on his debut before being released that August. In 2014 the NFL commissioner asked him to speak at the rookie symposium, and weeks later he was hired into the league Department of Operations. The school district later won a 2.6 million dollar judgment against his accuser. A film of his story was released in 2019.
The moments
Brian Banks's timeline.
The 1980s
Born in Long Beach
Everyday. Long Beach, California.
The 2000s
A junior to watch
Milestone, and it changed his direction. One of the best schoolboy linebackers in California.
He commits to USC
Milestone, and it changed everything. Sixteen years old, with the whole thing in front of him.
A false accusation
Setback, and it changed everything. Expelled before anything had been decided.
Ten minutes to decide
Setback, and it changed everything. Ten minutes, at sixteen, and not allowed to ask his mother.
Close to six years
Setback, and it changed everything. Eleven years of his life, in total.
The 2010s
The confession
Milestone, and it changed everything. She told him herself, and he had a recorder running.
It is not admissible
Setback, and it changed everything. He had the truth on tape and it counted for nothing.
The Innocence Project takes it
Milestone, and it changed everything. They had said no once, and then they said yes.
The conviction is reversed
Milestone, and it changed everything. Ten years after the ten minutes.
Move on, or go and play
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: go and try out, taken, or take the clearance and rebuild. He played two games in the UFL, signed for the Falcons the following April, and made his NFL debut at twenty seven.
He plays again
Milestone, and it changed everything. Eleven years since his last real game.
The Atlanta Falcons
Milestone, and it changed everything. He made it, at twenty seven, and made two tackles.
A judgment for the school
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The money came back, with damages on top.
The league hires him
Milestone, and it changed everything. He got the job inside the game itself.
The film
Milestone, and it changed his direction. He produced the film about his own case.
He works in the game now, at the league itself, which is a stranger and better ending than the one he was on course for. What he set moving is the plainest answer to a stolen decade there is, which was to go back and get the exact thing that was taken, late, at twenty seven, in front of everybody.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His turned on ten minutes he was given at sixteen, and on eleven years of refusing to let that be the end of it. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Brian Banks: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Brian Banks's character arc?
What happened to Brian Banks at sixteen?
Why did Brian Banks take the plea?
How was the Brian Banks conviction overturned?
Did Brian Banks play in the NFL?
What does Brian Banks do now?
Where does this timeline of Brian Banks's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Brian Banks, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- The California Innocence Project case record, as cited there.
- His Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Locomotives club biographies.
- The 2019 feature film, which he co-executive produced.